ETC.: A Review of General Semantics articles from October 2005

ETC.: A Review of General Semantics archives from October 2005

Psycho-logical fate and freedom.
October 1, 2005... ALFRED KORZYBSKI wanted a science of humanity. As the title and subtitle of his 1921 book indicate--Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art of Human Engineering--this was not a disinterested, academic pursuit. Having suffered and seen the...

Comprehension.
October 1, 2005... I. I HAVE DETECTED an idea running rampant in the world to the effect that people can actually understand things. Our training inculcates this idea in us, and our language is structured in such a way as to almost ordain that the notion be...

Using general semantics for effective self-management.
October 1, 2005... IN THE PAST, people had little need to manage their careers; they were born into their stations in life. More recently, people relied on their companies to map their career paths. But times have radically changed--today it is essential that we...

A tale of a disguise that worked.(Fictional Work)
October 1, 2005... IN OUR STORY, which is purely a product of the imagination, he sometimes said he didn't have a clue why he became a detective. He abhorred violence. Death scared him. He liked solving problems, and he had a particular method, general semantics,...

The scientific method and other bases for evaluation procedures.
October 1, 2005... THE PURPOSE of the present work is to provide fundamentals for approaching the task of developing and applying the varied types of evaluation instruments and procedures. In other words, now that we know what evaluation is for, how do we go...

Korzybski and Bateson: paradoxes in 'consciousness of abstracting'.(Alfred Korzybski, Gregory Bateson)
October 1, 2005... ALFRED KORZYBSKI maintained that training in "consciousness of abstracting" would lead people beyond the paradoxes of abstraction. Gregory Bateson, on the other hand, argued for the inability to achieve this thoroughly. He writes, "Korzybski...

Using GS extensional devices to explore Carl Sandburg's poetry.
October 1, 2005... ALTHOUGH HE BEGAN writing before the birth of general semantics, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) seems to have been guided by ideas closely related to general semantics formulations, especially those of non-identity, non-allness, self-reflexiveness,...

Exploring "silence".(Silent Levels)
October 1, 2005... If we wish to internalize general semantics, we must develop a conscious awareness of "silent levels"--that part of existence that is pre-verbal, life "before" we apply words to it to think or talk about it. Try this: Allow your verbal...

On the un-speakable objective level*.(Silent Levels)
October 1, 2005... THE TERM 'UN-SPEAKABLE' expresses exactly that which we have up to now practically entirely disregarded; namely, that an object or feeling, say, our toothache, is not verbal, is not words. Whatever we may say will not be the objective level,...

When to "keep still"*.(Silent Levels)
October 1, 2005... On Silence WHAT IS ASKED may seem pointless, but the experience of many students of language in its relation to life facts indicates that the procedure is effective. This is a plea for participation. Pinch your finger. Say no words....

Zen and the abstracting process: the world turned upside down.(Silent Levels)
October 1, 2005... "TAKE KORZYBSKI's general semantics seminar and you'll find your world turned upside down," said a friend half a century ago. I took her advice and found that her prediction came true. Years later, I read accounts of Zen students experiencing...

Silent knight: protecting yourself with silence.(Silent Levels)
October 1, 2005... IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL spring morning and the radio weatherman promised clear skies, so my wife made a picnic salad from a new recipe and off we went to the "Bach in the Park" concert advertised in the paper. While waiting for the music to...

Charlotte Schuchardt Read on Sensory Awareness.(Silent Levels)(Interview)
October 1, 2005... Excerpts from an interview by Louise Boedeker in New York City on April 11,1999. For more, go to www.learn-gs.org/library/csr-sensory.htm. Charlotte Read: At the seminars of general semantics Korzybski insisted that everyone should become...

Sensory awareness and total functioning*.(Silent Levels)
October 1, 2005... THE WORK I am going to present to you cannot be identified with any one of the traditional or generally known approaches to human nature and creativity, although its various facets branch out into many of them, for instance, psychology,...

Correspondence.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... Dear Editor: I write in response to Milton Dawes's "On Time-Binding Consciousness" (July, 2005, ETC). I answer "Yes" to Milton's question, "Do you consider use of general semantics principles non-allness, non-identity, non-elementalism,...

Anonymous intimacy.(METAPHORS IN ACTION)
October 1, 2005... MASS MEDIA offer us a strange experience where we see and hear various intimate details about the lives of people we do not know. For example, as I write this, the trial of Michael Jackson is going on. I am not following the trial closely, but...

Symbol manipulation and boomerang spin.(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)
October 1, 2005... July, 2005 THOSE WHO LIVE by manipulating symbols also might find themselves the victims of such manipulation. Karl Rove, White House chief of staff and longtime GOP political adviser, seems to fit in this category. At issue as I...

Excerpts from the IGS message board - learning GS topics, metaphors.(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)(Institute of General Semantics, general semantics)
October 1, 2005... The following edited excerpts come from a recent conversation on the IGS message board. If you haven't joined the board yet, you might want to think about doing so now. Those of us who participate in these conversations find the topics varied,...

The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist.(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Richard P. Feynman. The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist. Reading, MA: Perseus, 1998. In April 1963, Richard P. Feynman--a Nobel prize-winning physicist and polymath, who was at various times an artist, a dancer, a bongo...

Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life.(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Steven Johnson. Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life. New York: Scribner, 2004. Steven Johnson believes that learning about the brain's mechanics can widen one's self-awareness as powerfully as any therapy or...

Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History.(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Lee Harris. Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History. New York: Free Press, 2004. This book is about the fight between the civilized world and ruthless international terrorists who want to destroy it. The latter group,...

Fifty years ago in ETC.(RETROSPECT)
October 1, 2005... From the title of Professor Bossard's book, [The Sociology of Child Development,] one would not expect it to be particularly useful for students of general semantics. However, general semanticists are used to picking up valuable clues and...

Mark your calendar--2005/6.(Calendar)
October 1, 2005... Check online for the latest details: www.time-binding.org/news.htm. Oct 27-29 -- Las Vegas, NV. General Semantics Teaching Conference, Gold Coast Hotel & Casino. An opportunity to learn and share experiences on a variety of topics related...